Category: Sports

It looked like the Nationals were in for a long night on Saturday at Turner Field. Right-hander Max Scherzer was having early problems, while Braves rookie Tyrell Jenkins was having his way with Washington.

By the fourth inning, however, Jenkins lost it by surrendering eight runs in the frame en route to the Nationals’ 11-9 win. Washington, which is undefeated in Atlanta this season, improved to 11-1 against the Braves in 2016 and won its third straight, while the Braves have dropped seven in a row.
Jenkins got only one out in the fourth before right-hander Ryan Weber replaced him. Weber ended up doing a serviceable job on the mound, pitching 3 2/3 innings and allowing one run on eight hits to keep Atlanta in it.
The Braves made the game interesting by scoring six late runs, cutting the deficit to two in the ninth on Chase d’Arnaud’s two-run single. Anthony Recker popped out to first for the final out as the potential tying run.
“We’ve been doing this a lot,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “We come up just short, and we put up some great at-bats from the first inning all the way to the ninth inning. That’s a positive we’re taking out of it is scoring nine runs and scoring a lot of runs yesterday. Just keep scoring a lot of runs, and we’ll start winning some games.”
Manager Dusty Baker admitted the ending was scary, but he gave the Braves credit for not giving up.
“They don’t quit,” Baker said. “They keep fighting and fighting. Boy, I’m just glad we won the game. [The Braves] have a lot of spirit over there.”
In the fourth, the Nationals collected a club-record nine hits, including eight in a row, and scored a season-high eight runs — all off Jenkins. Trea Turner had the biggest knock, a three-run homer. Even Scherzer was able to get in on the act with an RBI single.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen eight hits in a row maybe since the days when the Pirates were known as ‘The Lumber Company,'” Baker said. “I’m just glad we were doing some hitting.”
Added Scherzer: “Dusty had the confidence in me to go ahead and slash [at the plate]. As soon as I got the sign, I said, ‘Heck, yeah, let’s go. Let’s get a knock.’ Sure enough, I got a fastball away and was able to do something with it. I just helped keep that line moving as the hitters always say.” More >
After surrendering seven runs against the Nationals last Sunday, Jenkins held his own through the first three innings, allowing only a solo home run to Ryan Zimmerman. Washington then batted around against the rookie right-hander, who threw 31 pitches in the frame. Jenkins has been unable to pitch through the fifth inning in four of his eight starts this year. After the game, the Braves optioned Jenkins to Triple-A Gwinnett to work on his recent struggles.
“You’ve got to make pitches,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “This is a really good team, and they just added a couple of pieces back. You can’t make mistakes. You’ve got to hit [your] location, your movement and just all of the pitching things in order to keep games in check and give your team a chance.”
After giving up three runs in the second inning, Scherzer allowed just two hits over the next 4 1/3 frames — a two-out single in the fifth to Matt Kemp and a one-out double to Ender Inciarte in the seventh that ended Scherzer’s night. In the top half of the seventh, Scherzer added his second single and RBI of the game.
“I wanted to attack the zone better [after the second inning],” Scherzer said. “Once we got the eight runs, the big lead, that’s shutdown time. You want to go out there and throw shutdown innings, to keep momentum on your side, and that’s when you usually win ballgames.”
Inciarte helped the Braves seize a 3-1 lead in the second inning with a two-out ground-rule double, setting the stage for Adonis Garcia’s two-run double in the ensuing at-bat. The center fielder crossed the plate once again in the seventh inning, when he doubled to right and later scored from third on reliever Blake Treinen’s wild pitch to Freeman. Since July 8, Inciarte has batted .336 (50-for-149) with eight of his 16 doubles and has scored 27 runs.
“We traded for him, and that’s what we expected,” Freeman said. “He’s starting to do that every day now. It’s huge for us. It gets everything going, and if he keeps doing that, we’ll start winning some games.”
A two-hour rain delay cut Gio Gonzalez’s last start short to just three innings against the Rockies. He enters Sunday’s outing in Atlanta searching for the 100th victory of his career. Game time is 12:35 p.m. CT.
Atlanta will counter with Joel De La Cruz, who is still searching for his first Major League win. The right-hander has lowered his ERA from 4.66 to 3.72 since rejoining the Braves’ rotation on July 31, but the team has only averaged 1.53 runs per game in his starts this season.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast beginning at noon on the Braves Radio Network.

Jaycob Brugman delivered a tie-breaking two-run double in the top of the ninth inning to send the Nashville Sounds to an 8-6 win over the Omaha Storm Chasers Saturday night at Werner Park.

Brugman’s clutch hit finished off a 3-for-4 night in which he drove three runs and scored another. Josh Rodriguez helped the cause with a 3-for-3 night with three runs scored. The two also combined to draw four walks.

At 73-55, the Sounds’ magic number is at eight with 16 games to play. They lead second-place New Orleans by nine games in the American Southern Division standings.

The back-and-forth game started with a bang when Matt Olson launched his 14th home run of the season – a two-run jack to deep right field to give Nashville an early 2-0 lead.

Brugman, who singled in the first ahead of Olson’s homer, collected his second hit of the night in the second when he lined a two-out double down the right field line to score Bryan Anderson to make it 3-0.

Omaha’s Hunter Dozier cut into the lead when he drilled a solo homer off Chris Jensen in the bottom of the second. In the fifth, Dusty Coleman took the right-hander deep to make it 3-2.

More two-out hitting gave the Sounds two runs in the sixth. After the first two batters were retired, Anderson tripled off the wall in right field, and Rodriguez lined a double down the right field line to extend the lead to 4-2. After Brugman walked, Joey Wendle lined a base hit to right to give Nashville a 5-2 cushion.

It appeared it would stay that way through the sixth until Colin Walsh misplayed a fly ball in right field. A catch would have ended the inning with no runs scored. Instead, a run scored on the play and then Bubba Starling followed with a game-tying two-run double.

The problems continued when Parker Morin greeted Sean Doolittle with a solo homer in the seventh. Working in his third rehab game, Doolittle served up the long ball that gave Omaha their first lead at 6-5.

The Sounds rallied again as Rodriguez scored the tying run with two outs in the top of the eighth on a passed ball by Morin.

In the ninth, Rangel Ravelo drew a walk to spark another rally. Anderson dropped down a successful sacrifice and Rodriguez followed with an infield single to put runners at the corners with one out. Facing Malcom Culver, Brugman lined a two-run double off the right field wall to give the Sounds an 8-6 lead.

Bobby Wahl worked around a lead-off walk in the ninth to notch his second save. He used a 4-6-3 double play to secure the win.

Angel Castro, who pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth, picked up his second win of the season. Culver was tagged with the loss, his fifth.

Aside from Brugman and Rodriguez each collecting three hits, Olson and Wendle had multi-hit games for the Sounds.

Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Werner Park. Right-hander Jharel Cotton (10-6, 4.35) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Jake Junis (1-1, 4.50) for the Storm Chasers. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.

Tickets for the 2016 Pacific Coast League playoff dates at First Tennessee Park are now available for purchase at the Nashville Sounds box office and online at www.nashvillesounds.com. The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate.

After surrendering a three-run lead in the eighth inning of Friday night’s game at Turner Field, the Nationals halted Jim Johnson’s recent dominance and extended their mastery of the Braves with a 7-6 win that was decided by Clint Robinson’s two-out single.

Robinson’s single ended Johnson’s scoreless streak at 10 innings and provided the Nationals their 10th win in 11 games against Atlanta. Robinson went 2-for-3 and has hit safely in 14 of his past 19 starts, driving in runs in 10 of those 19 starts.
“I wanted to be aggressive. I’m trying to get a pitch to hit and do something with it,” Robinson said. “It’s fun. As a bench guy, your opportunities are limited. To justify your spot on the team, you have to come up big in big situations and instill confidence in the manger that you can get it done. When your number is called, it definitely helps my confidence having a good game today. I have to keep going.”
Nationals starter Tanner Roark provided 6 1/3 innings that were only blemished by a pair of home runs — Ender Inciarte’s two-run shot in the sixth and Nick Markakis’ solo shot in the seventh.
Making his first start since straining his oblique muscle July 30, Braves righty Julio Teheran allowed two of the three runs charged to him during his fifth and final inning. Dansby Swanson recorded a pair of hits, but also committed the first of two costly throwing errors that ultimately doomed the Braves, who lost for the eighth time in their past nine games when Mark Melancon completed a scoreless ninth.
The Nationals have won 10 of 11 against the Braves this season and 24 of 30 dating back to the start of last season.
With two outs in the fourth, it looked like Freddie Freeman hit his 25th homer to right-center field off Roark. However, center fielder Ben Revere leapt high and made a spectacular catch as he crashed against the wall to end the inning.
“The ball sounded pretty good off the bat, so I thought Freeman got all of it,” Revere said. “Then I looked up, I say, ‘It’s already a home run.’ As I’m getting closer, I may have a chance at this. I leaped and then I had a chance.”
Late rally: Markakis robbed Robinson of a potential home run to begin the fifth and then drilled a solo shot — his seventh homer since July 7 — to pull the Braves within two runs in the seventh. After Gordon Beckham’s throwing error gave one run back, Atlanta produced a game-tying, three-run eighth with the assistance of Anthony Rendon’s throwing error. After Rendon’s throw to second base went to right field, Freeman recorded a game-tying, two-run double — his 11th extra-base hit within a span of 41 at-bats.
“We want to end strong and on a positive note,” Freeman said. “Getting our guys back is a big key to that and getting them back in and their feet wet again is going to be big for us going down the stretch.”
Trea Turner continues to be productive in the top spot, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. He scored in the first inning on a groundout by Bryce Harper. Turner scored another run on a bloop single by Harper in the fifth. Turner also made a nice play when he backhanded the ball and threw out Beckham at first base. It was Turner’s speed that caused Beckham to make a throwing error in the eighth and allow Robinson to score the sixth run for Washington.
Teheran’s velocity was down a little and he primarily used his offspeed pitches after the second inning. This was his first start since going on the disabled list July 30 with an oblique strain. Even without his best stuff, the right-hander limited the Nationals to one run until he surrendered a couple of soft run-producing singles in Washington’s two-run fifth. Madison Younginer gave up a pair of runs in the sixth, including one on Swanson’s throwing error.
“I used more of my changeup today and my curveball,” Teheran said. “I didn’t go to use my slider that much, but it’s a different game and we’ll see how I feel for my next one. Hopefully I feel better for my next one.”

Back on the mound Saturday at 6:10 p.m. CT at Turner Field, right-hander Max Scherzer is coming off his shortest outing of the season, when he left the game after four innings against the Rockies. But he has still pitched at least seven innings more than any other pitcher this season.  Tyrell Jenkins will be looking to bounce back when he opposes Scherzer. Jenkins had allowed one or zero in three consecutive starts before surrendering seven runs in just four innings against the Nationals on Sunday.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast beginning at 6 PM on the Braves Radio Network.

A wild pitch and a bases loaded walk in the top of the tenth inning proved to be the difference in the Tacoma Rainiers’ 4-2 win over the Nashville Sounds Friday night in front of 9,687 fans at First Tennessee Park.

With the bases loaded and one out in the tenth, Tucker Healy uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop that allowed Daniel Robertson to race home from third with the go-ahead run.

After a strikeout and intentional walk, the bases were loaded again for Zach Shank who worked a four-pitch walk to force in another run.

Armed with a two-run lead, Emilio Pagan worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to close out the win for Tacoma.

Nashville (72-55) started the scoring early as they jumped on Tacoma (73-53) starter Zach Lee right away. Lee walked Arismendy Alcantara to start the bottom of the first, and then allowed a single to Jaycob Brugman.

After a base hit by Matt Olson to load the bases, Matt Chapman poked a groundball inside the first base bag and down the right field line to score Alcantara and Brugman to give the Sounds a 2-0 lead.

Tacoma bounced right back with a pair of runs over the next couple of innings. Tyler Smith’s RBI single cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second and Dan Vogelbach’s RBI single evened the game at 2-2 in the third.

It remained at 2-2 until extra innings and both Lee and Raul Alcantara settled in. Lee ended up allowing just the two runs in six innings. Alcantara started for Nashville and allowed his two runs in five innings.

Both bullpens held their own as J.B. Wendelken worked three scoreless innings for Nashville. Evan Scribner tossed a scoreless seventh for the Rainiers and Kevin Munson followed suit with two zeros in the eighth and ninth innings.

After winning the first two games of the homestand against the Reno Aces, the Sounds dropped the next two to split the four-game series. They did the same thing with Tacoma by winning the first two on Tuesday and Wednesday before dropping last night’s game and tonight’s finale.

Nashville leads the American Southern Division by 9.0 games after both Round Rock and New Orleans won Friday night. With 17 games remaining, the Sounds’ magic number to clinch the division is eight.

Up next, the Sounds hit the road for a nine-game trip to Omaha and Memphis. In game one Saturday night, the Sounds send right-hander Chris Jensen (2-6, 4.66) to the hill against the Storm Chasers. Omaha has not announced a starter. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Tickets for the 2016 Pacific Coast League playoff dates at First Tennessee Park are now available for purchase at the Nashville Sounds box office and online at www.nashvillesounds.com. The 2016 season is the Sounds’ 19th year in the Pacific Coast League and their second as the Oakland Athletics’ top affiliate.

Samuel Prater of Coffee County golf (file photo)

The Red Raider Golf team swept a pair of matches in Shelbyville on Thursday as they out shot Franklin County and Shelbyville. The Red Raiders shot a team score of 309 to defeat Shelbyville by 28 strokes and Franklin County by 33 strokes. The win improved the Raiders record to 28-6 on the season.
Sophomore Samuel Prater led the Raiders with an even par round of 72 to tie for low score honors. John Parigger shot a 75, Austin Farris had a 79 and Reid Lawrence carded an 83.
The Raiders and Lady Raiders will be in action next week on Monday in an 18 hole match at Willowbrook in their home opener against Shelbyville and Stewarts Creek. That match is set to tee off at 1 PM.

Clarissa Barrera of Westwood soccer

Lady Rocket keeper Alanna Coker had 14 saves as the Westwood Lady Rockets soccer team blanked Cascade 2 to 0 on Thursday in the season opener in Wartrace.  After a scoreless 1^st half, the Lady Rockets got a pair of goals in the second half to capture the conference win.

Faith Willoughby notched an unassisted goal after intermission and Clarissa Barrera added an insurance goal off of the assist from Britney Hernandez.  Coker had 10 first half saves before Westwood controlled the time of possession in the second half to hold Cascade to 4 2^nd half shots on frame.

Westwood’s home opener on Tuesday with Fayetteville has been rescheduled for September 12^th.  The Lady Rockets will travel to Huntland on Thursday for a 5:00 PM match with the Lady Hornets.

“It’s a tough job to win 2 games in 3 days” said Westwood football coach Chad Dyer following the Rockets 32 to 12 loss at Cascade on Thursday night. Coming off a win on Tuesday over Middle Tennessee Christian, the Rockets fell behind 20 to 6 at the half. Westwood got a first half touchdown on an off-tackle run by Reynaldo Ramirez. Trenton Thompson scored on a 4th quarter kickoff run of 67 yards in the 4th quarter.
“Reynaldo ran the ball like a man tonight” said Coach Chad Dyer as minor injuries and illness left the Rockets at less than 100 percent. The Rockets will be back in action on Tuesday as Liberty visits Dyer-Bouldin Field. Kickoff is set for 6:30 PM.